Don’t Go to Law School — Not Now

If you are reading this, odds
are that you or someone you care about is thinking about
going to law school. So think hard about it, read the rest of this
article, and then think some more.

Law school is no longer a safe
route to a successful career.

Law can be a respectable
profession, despite the lawyer jokes, and becoming a lawyer was once thought of
as a smart career choice. But should you go to law school?

No. Not now. Law school is no
longer a safe route to a successful career.

If you have the time, the
money, and the burning desire to go to law school primarily to get a legal
education, then by all means go. I am not anti-legal education. However, if
part of your desire is to become a lawyer, you should probably reconsider.

The primary reason I advocate
putting off law school is today’s legal job market. Most law students attend
law school with their eye on getting a decent-paying, satisfying legal job. But
if you think it will be that easy in today’s job market, think again. The odds
are not in favor of new law school graduates.

If you’re rolling your eyes,
thinking Are you out of your mind? I know someone who got out of law school
and started at $150K per year, so don’t sell me short just yet. Yes,
there are still some positions with fine salaries that are available for recent
grads. However, they go to the top students at the top law schools. And many of
the firms offering these jobs have awful reputations. They are often viewed as
sweat shops for young lawyers, who get chewed up and spit out within a few
years.

Another way into the industry
is to have the right connections. Networking is powerful, in any profession.
For those who believe they have the holy grail of networks, law school may
still be a worthwhile investment. If, that is, you can count on being able to
choose among a handful of good jobs before you even show up for Torts 101.

However, in the current legal
job market, the overwhelming majority of law school graduates end up in one or
more (usually more) of the following situations:

1.Jobless

2.In debt

3.Underemployed

4.Underpaid

5.Unsatisfied

6.Hanging a shingle

Jobless

Every law school indicates to
prospective students if they pound the pavement and pound it hard after
receiving their law license, they
will eventually get the dream job for which they are searching. Realistically, there are
approximately 90,000 lawyers in, say, Illinois. That’s the supply. The demand
is far less. Not all those lawyers can get their dream job.

Worse, experienced lawyers have been and still are being
laid off at an alarming rate. I’ve had lawyers, experienced lawyers; call me
after being laid off from their six-figure jobs looking to do $10-an-hour work
for me. Those calls are tough to answer, and that type of work is no way for
someone with a legal education and years of legal experience to make a living.

In debt

Too many young lawyers’ lives
are controlled by debt. It’s not uncommon for a new lawyer to get out of law
school and face a $1,500 (or more) payment every month, for years and years.
Combine this debt with a poor job market, not to mention the other expenses of
living and perhaps undergraduate debt, and you may find yourself in financial
crisis.

Underemployed

You made it through law
school. You passed the bar. Now you want to work. Heck, you need to work (see
“In debt,” above). But jobs are not available (see “Jobless,” above). So even
though you intended to be a ____ lawyer, you end up being a !____ lawyer. Hey, it’s a job, you convince yourself,and it’s just temporary.I’ve seen it many times.
Years later, you will still be doing the same thing.

Do you really think any law
student aspires to get out of law school and defend slip-and-fall cases for the
local municipality? Or worse yet (and more likely), you do not get a job as a
lawyer at all.

Underpaid

Many students come out of law
school in debt and anxious to work. However, there are not many positions
available. But you may decide you are better off working a legal job to build
your resume instead of waiting tables. So you go from job to job at law-clerk
wages. That’s when resentment starts to set in. On top of that, since you are
underpaid, your law school debt will begin to fester.

Unsatisfied

When I am not with my family
or fighting the good fight on behalf of my clients, you’ll find me at one of
the local law schools where I teach a class called “Advanced Trial Advocacy.”
Yes, that makes me an adjunct law professor, and yes, I am telling you not to
go to law school.

The law students I teach are
generally in their last semester of law school. Lately I’ve been hearing a lot
of heartbreak from my students. On the last day of class, when everyone shares
their post-graduation plans, very few hands go up when I ask who has secured a
full-time legal position. My follow-up question is always “What type of jobs
are you looking for?” The overwhelming response is something along the lines
of, “I don’t really care at this point; I just want a job.” Today’s limited job
market unfortunately leaves many recent grads unsatisfied with the work they
can find, if any.

Hanging a shingle

Starting a law practice is one
of the worst decisions an inexperienced lawyer can make.

Many students create a backup
plan that is beginning to sound all too familiar. If they get out of law school
and can’t find a good legal job, they hang up their own shingle. They start
their own law practice.

Starting a law practice is one
of the worst decisions an inexperienced lawyer can make. Becoming a
good lawyer requires years of post-law school training and
real-world experience.

Many new lawyers do hang up
shingles, and while I admire their courage (although it’s more likely
desperation) I wish they would stop and think about it. By launching into the
profession without getting proper training from successful, experienced
lawyers, they are doing their clients a disservice and the entire legal
profession takes a hit on credibility.

I recently met a new lawyer
who could not find a job, and so started her own general practice. She was
desperate to pay off her six-figure student loan by practicing law, and
therefore willing to take on any case, no matter how complicated. You can see
where this may not end well. This young woman agreed to represent a man in a
personal injury case, so she subpoenaed his medical records. I asked when she
filed the lawsuit. She replied that she had not. When I told her that she did
not have subpoena power until a lawsuit was on file, she looked at me like a
deer in the headlights. She is not alone.

I have met other lawyers who
choose to go it alone and they can be just as incompetent in the practice of
law. I mean no disrespect; they are simply inexperienced. These
fresh-out-of-law school shingle-hangers can be a black mark on the legal
profession. I cringe when I hear that people fresh out of law school have
started their own practices. I didn’t hang my own shingle until after I had a
good dozen years of experience and, more importantly, extensive training and
mentoring. Even with all that experience, it was still a challenge to open and
operate my own law practice.

Don’t go to law school now

I am offering a graduate
scholarship for students to go to any graduate school other than law school.

As each year passes, I look
into the eyes of my law students and, across the board, I see my soon-to-be,
fellow lawyers with a complete lack of morale, and for good reason. Their
immediate career prospects are bleak to the extreme. That is why I
am offering a graduate scholarship for students to go to
any graduate school other than law school. You can apply
here (doc).

Recently my friends’
22-year-old son started at Northwestern Law School. What an accomplishment to
get into such a fine institution! But instead of being thrilled for my friends
and for their son, I wondered why a smart kid with smart parents make the decision
to go to law school in these times.

The odds are that attending
law school will likely be a long-term financial burden, not a benefit. So my
advice, although I hope it will change in the near future, is don’t go to law
school. Not now.

Matthew L. Willens has been
practicing personal
injury law in Chicago since 1995. He hung his own Shingle in 2007 when
he started Willens Law Offices. Matt is also an Adjunct
Professor of Advanced Trial Advocacy at Loyola University Chicago Law School.
When he isn't lawyering or teaching, Matt can be found spending time with his
family. Occasionally, he will bust out his guitar for a hard rockin’ jam session.